Year 13 psychology students took part in a “Brain Day” in Little School. This was a series of lectures and interactive sessions on neuroscience from Dr Guy Sutton, Director of Medical Biology Interactive.

With mocks approaching on the horizon, there was nothing better to uplift Year 13 psychology students before the half term break than “Brain Day”. The day involved interactive lectures exploring fascinating ideas involved with upcoming neuroscience whilst also making various links to the current Year 13 Edexcel specification, exploring areas such as criminal brains, life after death, neuroplasticity, and brain injury that affects behaviour. Dr Guy Sutton captivated the students with his diverse knowledge base, keeping explanations simple yet highly informative. He introduced us to a number of case studies which posed many questions that left the students thinking “What is consciousness?” “What happens when we die?” “Do we have free will or are we products of our changing biology constantly being influenced by our surroundings?” The day ended with an exciting sheep brain dissection where Dr Sutton brought this whole concept to reality, letting students hold the brain and see the regions that we had learnt about earlier in the day for themselves, sparking excitement in all. With short breaks in between lecture sessions (as well as free cookies!), the experience had the perfect balance of learning and feeding interests in psychology, as well as providing a fun day out for the students and was enjoyed by all.
Tomas S, Year 13

We learned so much about the physical structure and functions of the brain – and also about new developments in the field of neuroscience. One really interesting thing we learned about was organoids, which are small pieces of brain tissue grown in a lab from skin cells. The skin cells are turned into stem cells which are then turned into neurons. The organoid is then fed with chemicals and growth molecules until it becomes bigger and more complex. These are revolutionary in studies on brain disorders or cancers as they can be introduced to the organoid and you can watch how they grow and develop over time. Many of the other topics we discussed also related to our course content, for example we learned about how brain injuries can lead to criminal behaviour and the genetic components to schizophrenia.
Eleanor J, Year 13

Photos by Heather L, Year 13